The beginning of the rest of my life . . . well, sort of

So I started my new job last Wednesday. I am an IT Specialist at the Umatilla Army Depot located in Umatilla Oregon. It was really exciting and nerve racking to be starting a new job. The reason that this is sort of the beginning of the rest of my life is because first it is new and I have finally joined the ranks of the full time employed and second I will be having to change jobs in 3-5 years. The Army depot housed biological weapons such as Mustard, Serin, and VX gas. The contract of the company I work for, URS Washington Int'l, is to destroy all of the weapons through incineration. The task will be complete in 3-5 years in which I will need to find a new place of employment.

My first day was really interesting. The depot is guarded by the military 24/7. You have to have a badge to get in and your car has to be registered with them to receive the clearance to drive it onto the base. Well, I had not put my current registration in my car, so I could not drive on the base. Fortunately, I was able to ride with another new hire who was apparently more prepared than I was.

I got on the site and was taken to the medical facility where they drew my blood and administered a urine drug test. I was then taken to Masking where I tested and received my very own gas mask. This is the real thing. It fits all the way around my face (it was very comfortable to wear though hard to see through) and has a mouth piece that attaches to a water bottle so you can drink water if you need to wear the mask for an extended period of time. The mask is placed in a bag that contains 3 separate dual injectors for the off chance that you come in contact with the nasty stuff. You are to take the mask with you at all times. So when I get up from my desk to go to the bathroom, I take it. When I go to see someone further than a few cubical away, I take it. It is like I get to carry around a cool looking army purse.

I failed to mention Wednesday was a training day for the military. They simulated a bunch of things like a terrorist attack, people hacking the control room computers, protesters, taking hostiges (real employees were called and had to go be the hostiges), and a many more. We would have to lock all the doors and wait in the trailers (called modules) until a message was sent declaring normal operations. I got stuck in one module for about 30 minutes. It was rather exciting.

Well, this post is getting long. needless to say, there was a lot more sitting and waiting than there was doing. But I will receive tons of training this next week. I will be CPR certified and know a lot more stuff. Hopefully I can be more diligent in writing my blog. I know I always say that but maybe it will come true this time.